BOZEMAN, Mont.— The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided today that fishers in Montana and Idaho do not warrant federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.

In the western United States, fishers, a type of forest carnivore, once roamed throughout the dense forests of the northern Rockies and from the Pacific Northwest to the southern Sierra Nevada. Today populations have declined significantly due to historic and ongoing trapping and logging, leaving only tiny, disconnected islands in each region. In 2004, the Fish and Wildlife Service determined the West Coast fisher population warranted protection as a threatened species, but has to date failed to provide those protections. Now the Rocky Mountain fishers have been denied protection altogether.

“Today’s decision is a major disappointment. Fishers in the northern Rockies should at least be on equal footing with fishers in their West Coast range, but neither population can afford to wait for help,” said David Gaillard of Defenders of Wildlife, who drafted the petition to protect the Rocky Mountain population. “The rarest carnivore in the Rockies may just disappear unless we take swift action to prevent any further decline.”

“Fishers are important not only in their own right, as fascinating hunters in our oldest forests, but also as an indicator of those forests where they still survive,” said Gary Macfarlane of Friends of the Clearwater. “When we reduce and fragment our old-growth forests from roads, logging and other developments, fishers are among the first animals to disappear.”

“Fishers in the northern Rocky Mountains need protection,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “In the coming weeks we will be taking a close look at what further action is needed to save this important species.”

The conservation groups that petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Rocky Mountain fisher population include Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Clearwater, Friends of the Bitterroot and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Background
The fisher, a rare and agile forest hunter prized for its thick, soft fur, is a member of the weasel family similar to otters and minks and closely related to the marten. Despite their name, fishers do not prey on fish. Fishers live primarily in old-growth forests, where they eat snowshoe hares and other small mammals and birds and have a remarkable ability to successfully hunt porcupines. In fact, timber companies often value fishers because they can reduce tree damage caused by porcupines.

Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With more than 1 million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to come. For more information, visit www.defenders.org.

Friends of the Clearwater is a conservation organization working to protect the public wildlands, wildlife and watersheds of the Clearwater Basin in north-central Idaho.

The Center for Biological Diversityis a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 320,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Friends of the Bitterroot is a 24-year-old regional, grassroots conservation group focused on the conservation of wildlife, wildlands and watersheds in the Bitterroot, Montana area.